At the end of Valery Giscard d’Estaing’s first month in office, the editor of a news magazine complained that he had not yet seen the President’s true face. No wonder, since the press had been too intent on creating an image to study the individual. In this case, the individual deserves study, for the French, through good sense or sheer luck, have elected a political genius with the vision, the dynamism, and the imagination to become the most influential leader in Europe.
Throughout the campaign, reams were written about Giscard’s aristocratic background. After the election, there was a sudden switch to his simplicity, which, it seems, makes him resemble the common man. In fact, he is not an aristocrat but he does belong to the haute bourgeoisie, an elite, and his “simplicity” is nothing more than the behavior of an independent man so sure of his place in the world that he does as he pleases. What is frustrating the press is the difficulty of trying to make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse.
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